of Mark’s gospel. During this time period in Matthew’s gospel we encounter more parables then we do in Mark’s gospel. We find some parables that Mark doesn’t even mention. However, the main stories are included in both using most of the same words. Luke’s words are much like both Mark’s and Matthew’s. He uses most of the same stories in basically the same order. However, John’s gospel is very unlike the other three gospels in both content and order. In fact, nowhere in John’s gospel is there a mention of the story of The Rich Young Man. There is historical proof that Mark’s gospel was possibly written near Syria, around the year 70 A.D. (68). Mark’s audience was most likely Gentile and was not familiar with Jewish customs (67). This explains why at certain times Jewish customs are explained in the footnotes. There were also stories about staying faithful through persecution. These were written to encourage the early Christians to stay faithful to Christ in spite of the adversities they faced (67). This passage is not used in the current Sunday Lectionary of the Catholic Church. This is strange because all the passages before and after in that chapter seem to be. I believe that this deleted passage contained a very important message for the people to hear. Often people say, “Money can buy you everything” or “Money can’t buy you happiness.” I believe that after reading this passage it can be said, “Money can’t buy eternal life.” ...
